Clim is on, so it's cold enough for me to be wearing a blanket on my shoulder atm. Bought some thermal paste on amazon so kinda waiting for before doing that pc a good cleaning job anyway, still wondering about the test result and know if the sensor is reliable anyway.

@infrared Sure do hope so, PC on it's 6th year and it's still on stock Thermal Paste, bought some Arctic Silver 5 for it(Don't even know what's the thermal paste they used on my pc...). I still didn't think it would bring the temp at the maximum, almost stopped the test when one of the core got at 99 lol.

@infrared Sure do hope so, PC on it's 6th year and it's still on stock Thermal Paste, bought some Arctic Silver 5 for it(Don't even know what's the thermal paste they used on my pc...). I still didn't think it would bring the temp at the maximum, almost stopped the test when one of the core got at 99 lol.

Normally it doesn't turn bad indeed, i have no way to know for now. Does a few months if not more that i've seen temps getting to 82-83 while gaming and i don't think it was that high before. Anyway it cannot hurt to change the paste once in a while and i want to clean the heatsink of the fan. So i can only wait that thermal paste i've bought on amazon before doing this.

Thanks, i've filled my System Specs.

Performance still aren't that bad, but not what it once was *sigh*. Seem so much more unstable compared to the 2015 one. (Just happen i still had some screenshot from 2015 hence why i used this one)

That's for sure, but i don't feel like it would be worth it since i've been using this for all these years. Temperatures is still now much better with the old paste gone and heatsink + fan entirely cleaned up(+ the whole pc).

When i'll have the money to build a custom pc this time(not a premade which i would upgrade like this one... Was poor so didn't have much choice to get myself a credit for it. My old one been stolen). I'll buy a much better one and a much better case(this case is so much crap lmao).

For the new fans, got myselfCorsair Air Series SP120 PWM High Performance Edition-Twin Pack CO-9050014-WW

RealTemp Author

The RealTemp sensor test was specifically designed for the 45nm Core 2 Duo. The temperature sensors on these CPUs used to get stuck at lower temperatures. None of the newer Core i CPUs have this problem unless the temperatures are sub zero.

The original picture you posted shows LOG in the Thermal Status area. That means your CPU was overheating. When this happens, it will immediately start to thermal throttle and slow down. Your most recent picture does not show LOG anymore so everything is OK.

Multiple GPU driver versions are released every month. It is really hard to make any sort of valid comparison when more than 2 years have passed between your benchmark tests. Your GPU driver might be using some different antialias or other settings.

Turn on the Log File feature in RealTemp so you have a record of your CPU's performance while testing. If it is running at its rated speed during the test, the difference in performance is likely GPU related. Your GPU might have also been overheating.

On a different subject, the long awaited RealTemp update is almost ready to go.

New Member

Hi all, I also have some serious concerns about my newly purchased Acer Aspire 5 laptop, with the latest 8th gen i7 chip. In normal usage the temperature can reach 60-70 C, and when playing games, touching 80-90C, and thermal throttling happens frequently. As the laptop was only a week old, I sent it to Acer for a checkup. The technician ran their own tests and said that they didn't see any problems with overheating, but they did say that the battery failed their tests (they couldn't clarify why it failed) and so they replaced it. I got back my laptop but it pretty much felt the same, with maybe slightly less heating (subjectively).

RealTemp Author

Many of today's laptops include cooling solutions that are somewhere between poor and completely inadequate, especially when gaming. The LOG word in red in RealTemp is showing that your CPU is reaching the maximum safe operating temperature and is then thermal throttling which slows your computer down, sometimes significantly.

RealTemp 3.70 and the sensor test were designed long before the 8550U existed. It was designed to test desktop computers, not laptops and not low power U series laptops. The latest version of Prime95 uses AVX instructions and is an excessive stress test for a U CPU so I would not recommend using it.

One thing you can do to help out is to reduce the CPU core and CPU cache voltage. Less voltage = less power consumption = less heat. A negative offset of about -100 mV can make a big difference. Adjusting the voltage is all trial and error. You do not want to go too far or else you will lose stability. There is another free program available on TechPowerUp called ThrottleStop that lets you fine tune your processor. Do some Google searching for how to use it. There are also some good YouTube videos showing how to use it. If you need help with ThrottleStop, maybe start a new thread, let me know and I will stop in to help you out.

For voltage adjustment, you can also check out Intel XTU. I am not sure if that one fully supports your CPU but it should.

New Member

Unclewebb, I went with your advise for undervolt of -100mV for the CPU core and cache and I went ahead with a -50mV for the integrated GPU. Ran the stress test again, and it seemed to hold. Here are the results after undervolting:

Is this an improvement in performance?

What does the CPU load of 24.1% mean? Other posts seem to show close to 100% CPU load for the top line of the CPU cool down test. Does this mean by CPU is only coping with 24% of the computations being thrown at it by the stress test, or does it mean the CPU is only working at 24% of capacity?

If you do not recommend using the Prime95 stress test, which would you recommend for an 8th Gen U series?

RealTemp Author

RealTemp 3.70 does not correctly support the 8th Gen CPUs so the 24% number is meaningless. That version of RealTemp was released almost 6 years ago, long before the 8th Gen CPUs existed.

What program did you use to undervolt your CPU? The Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) has some graphs that can show you the reasons for throttling and ThrottleStop includes a small window called Limit Reasons that shows you the same throttling reasons data. Prime95 is still an overwhelming load for most laptops, especially one with inadequate cooling. It is not a good idea to buy a U series CPU with expectations that you will be able to run Prime95 at full speed. It will either throttle due to thermal reasons like you are seeing or it will throttle because the CPU will reach the built in 15 Watt TDP limit.

There are a few laptops out there with U CPUs that can run well beyond the built in 15 Watt limit without any signs of throttling or overheating like this Lenovo I bought. Laptops like this are a rare exception. Most U CPUs are badly crippled just like you are seeing.